


this ain't your front porch on division street

by arrows (orphan_account)



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe, Arson, F/M, Inspired by Music
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-12
Updated: 2013-08-12
Packaged: 2017-12-23 07:04:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/923379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/arrows
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Well God bless us, darling, we need it.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	this ain't your front porch on division street

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [The Revolution by For the Foxes](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmDga726B9k).
> 
> Alternate Universe where Nat escaped the Red Room as a young teenager and didn't go to SHIELD right away, instead ending up in a small town where Clint and the circus were stopped.

The fire creates more shadows than it does light, bouncing off every surface around and then glowing where there's nothing to bounce off.

The moment the fire comes too close, grows too large, Clint runs. Only seventeen (and if he wasn't so goddamn angry at the world he'd probably fit a Dancing Queen reference into his internal monologue right around here, because hey, even he knows that song) and pissed off to the point of finding a barn and, well, burning it to the ground.

He's always liked fire.

 

The circus' flame thrower teaches him more about safety, which he ultimately ignores. Nothing, including fire, is ever as good without the thrill of danger.

 

He finds her on the edge of a field, which is also on the edge of a forest. Fog surrounds them, and he could just make out from the distance a lit match in her hand.

"Tasha," he calls out, jogging towards her. She turns and scowls at him. "A little busy, Clint."

The forest wasn't near any houses or buildings, but then again, not much was around here anyways. He takes his own lighter out of his pocket, lights a cigarette, and lets it hang loosely between his fingers.

They throw the match into the forest together and watch the flames. And then never talk about it again. Some things just aren't meant to be discussed.

 

She leaves town a few weeks after that, and he never gets a reply to any of his letters.

 

When they meet again, they're closer to thirty than either would like to admit, and they're both working for the government.

"Never thought I'd see you here," Natasha greets through the coms. They hadn't had much time for small talk during the mission briefing.

"You either," he says, and turns a corner so he's visible to her.

She gives a small wave and a smile that to anyone else would look like a grimace (Agent Romanoff doesn't smile, it's /impossible/; and neither does Natasha. But Tasha, who is only ever anything but a myth around Clint, sometimes does).

He fires an exploding arrow or four into the HYDRA base at the same time she throws the bomb. They grin at each other as they duck out of the way of the blast. It's like she never left and he never tried (and failed) to hate her for it.

 

When nightmares wake her, he runs his hands through her hair until she's relaxed; kisses her shoulder and reminds her she's home. When his sleep is troubled, she sings Russian lullabies softly -- he'd always thought she was born in the states, she didn't even have an accent, not even back when they were idiotic teenagers; but no, those songs feel like home to both of them. Her because she was born in a place with snow blanketing the buildings at all times of year; and him because it's so distinctly Natasha.

 

Natasha doesn't believe in God; she's seen too many terrible things, from the fire that took her parents to the fires she's caused. But she believes in his little smirk that says they're okay, even when things look unbelievably bad. She believes in the fire reflected in his eyes. And in the scars on his back from the time he got a little too close and got burnt. She believes in very few things, but him most of all.

**Author's Note:**

> Comment if you liked it, please!


End file.
